Lancaster County’s opioid crisis is not only bad – it’s getting worse.
“It’s sad, and it’s frustrating, because it’s only gaining momentum,” Lancaster County Coroner Karla Deese said.
“In 2016, we had five opioid deaths and none of them contained illicit fentanyl,” Deese said. “By the time we closed out 2017, we had 25 deaths, and 18 of those contained fentanyl. So we had a 400 percent increase in opioid deaths in just one year.”

Lancaster business owner and former civic leader Chris Tillman has been arrested again, this time on sex-offense charges involving two young girls, both under age 15.
According to an arrest warrant, one of the girls told the Lancaster County Sheriff’s Office in March that there had been repeated incidences over a two-year period in which Tillman sexually gratified himself by using her feet.
The girl said this happened during teen sleepovers at Tillman’s house. She said he would find her when the lights went out or everyone else was asleep.

County officials are moving ahead to build a new animal shelter at a cost of $1.25 million to $1.75 million, and they will select the site this month.
The list of possible locations has been trimmed to two. The preferred site is near the public works complex on Pageland Highway.
The other option is on the southern side of S.C. 9 Bypass West between West Meeting Street and Grace Avenue near the air rail park.

Downtown Lancaster is teeming with memories for those in the 40-plus age bracket.
There’s cruising Main Street after dark to look at the reflection of your shiny car in storefront glass.
Dropping a penny in the sidewalk scales at City Drug to check your weight after scarfing down a double handful of fresh-baked raspberry-topped tea cookies that Mr. Courtney had just put in the display case at Lancaster Bakery.

KERSHAW – Amid a dispute over underground utility lines, the L&C Railway has discontinued the town of Kershaw’s longtime practice of mowing the six-block Cleveland Street greenway that runs beside the railroad’s tracks.
Kershaw officials received a certified letter dated April 18 from Railway Auditing & Management Services (RAMS) of Jacksonville, Fla., telling them to “cease immediately” all landscaping services provided by the town on Lancaster & Chester Railroad property.

You can image the pastor of the precursor to Union ARP Church in Richburg standing on the church steps, issuing a call to his neighbors.
“All able-bodied souls who desire to defend these colonies and in especial the Colony of South Carolina, and who are enlisted in the militia are requested and required to report for Muster at the Meeting House,” he might have said.